Israeli envoy to the United States Yechiel Leiter has claimed that the new deal between Tel Aviv and Beirut is not about the exit of the Zionist occupying forces from southern Lebanon.
Speaking on a podcast on Thursday, the ambassador said the agreement with Lebanon is dependent on developments on the ground rather than a fixed timetable for Israeli withdrawal, emphasizing that the central objective of the deal is the “dismantling of Hezbollah”.
Israeli forces would not pull out of southern Lebanon until the Lebanese army establishes full control over areas south of the Litani River and until Hezbollah no longer maintains an armed presence in the region, said the envoy, effectively reaffirming the continued Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon under current security arrangements.
“The focus of the agreement is the dismantling of Hezbollah, not Israel’s withdrawal,” Leiter claimed, underscoring Tel Aviv’s main objective in the trilateral negotiations between Tel Aviv, Beirut and Washington, resulting in the framework agreement on June 26.
In the meantime, the Israeli-Lebanon framework agreement remains widely rejected in Lebanon as a failed attempt to create discord in Lebanese armed forces.
Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri warned on Thursday that the Israelis aim to sow discord in the Lebanese armed forces to confront the resistance, asserting that this is the real goal they are working toward.
Berri said the enemy aims to create distrust and sow the seed of discord in Lebanese society. He characterized the framework agreement signed between Lebanon and the Israeli regime in Washington as an “agreement of discord.”
He further warned that the Israeli regime’s main objective is to pit the Lebanese Army against Hezbollah, but the scheme will never materialize.
Earlier, Berri assured that the Lebanese military institutions would stand shoulder to shoulder with the resistance fighters in pushing out the Israeli occupant forces.
Berri went on to express his strong opposition to direct negotiations with Israel, denouncing the US-sponsored framework agreement between the Beirut government and the Israeli regime as a “sedition deal”, and a terrible and unjust move against the Lebanese nation.
“Our principal priority is the expulsion of occupiers, not signing American dictates,” Berri asserted.
He said forming a strong “international umbrella group”, including major regional and trans-regional actors, is the only viable solution to stability on Lebanon’s border with the Israeli regime.
